🌅 America’s True Number of Political Parties

SOURCE

Pew Research Center

WHAT TO KNOW

• A new report by the Pew Research Center found U.S. adults fall into nine distinct groups based on their political and cultural values, ranging from the “No Apologies Right” (9% of respondents) to “Leftward Progressives” (7%). While today’s political rhetoric is dominated by voters on either ends of the spectrum, Pew found most Americans fall into groups within a large, politically nuanced center, even if they favor one party over the other. The report included survey responses from more than 10,000 U.S. adults grouped based on their responses to 24 questions. See where you fit using Pew’s Political Typology quiz.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The report reveals a problem currently plaguing both Democrats and Republicans: their most enthusiastic supporters tend to hold the most extreme views, while the broader swath of the American electorate that actually decides elections finds itself somewhere closer to the middle. The report also reveals meaningful divides between groups in the middle and the political cohorts they tend to support. For example, while the two groups farthest to the right broadly approve of Donald Trump and support his deportation agenda, the “Pragmatic and Polite Right” (11% of respondents), which sits just right of center, disapproves of both. Similarly, Americans in the “Order and Opportunity Left” (18%), which sits just left of center and is the largest single group uncovered in the report, are far more concerned about crime and border security than any other left-leaning group.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• America’s two-party system is a result known as Duverger’s Law, which states that countries that elect candidates with single-member districts via plurality voting (like the U.S.) generally only have two major political parties, largely due to the fact that the losing party gains nothing even if they earn 49% of the vote. Experts say the remedy to the winner-take-all system—formally known as “first past the post” voting—is to adopt a system called proportional representation, under which districts have multiple representatives and parties earn seats based on their share of the vote. Research shows countries that use proportional representation—which is the standard system around the globe—are more likely to elect legislatures that better reflect their constituencies’ values and adopt policies supported by the majority of citizens.